tree 039650e9c3a803d30c6ee183138c63d5dcafe480
parent ca279cf1065fb689abea1dc7d8c11787729bb185
author Vikram Mulukutla <markivx@codeaurora.org> 1349396002 -0700
committer Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> 1349460297 +0900

lib/spinlock_debug: avoid livelock in do_raw_spin_lock()

The logic in do_raw_spin_lock() attempts to acquire a spinlock by invoking
arch_spin_trylock() in a loop with a delay between each attempt.  Now
consider the following situation in a 2 CPU system:

1. CPU-0 continually acquires and releases a spinlock in a
   tight loop; it stays in this loop until some condition X
   is satisfied. X can only be satisfied by another CPU.

2. CPU-1 tries to acquire the same spinlock, in an attempt
   to satisfy the aforementioned condition X. However, it
   never sees the unlocked value of the lock because the
   debug spinlock code uses trylock instead of just lock;
   it checks at all the wrong moments - whenever CPU-0 has
   locked the lock.

Now in the absence of debug spinlocks, the architecture specific spinlock
code can correctly allow CPU-1 to wait in a "queue" (e.g., ticket
spinlocks), ensuring that it acquires the lock at some point.  However,
with the debug spinlock code, livelock can easily occur due to the use of
try_lock, which obviously cannot put the CPU in that "queue".  This
queueing mechanism is implemented in both x86 and ARM spinlock code.

Note that the situation mentioned above is not hypothetical.  A real
problem was encountered where CPU-0 was running hrtimer_cancel with
interrupts disabled, and CPU-1 was attempting to run the hrtimer that
CPU-0 was trying to cancel.

Address this by actually attempting arch_spin_lock once it is suspected
that there is a spinlock lockup.  If we're in a situation that is
described above, the arch_spin_lock should succeed; otherwise other
timeout mechanisms (e.g., watchdog) should alert the system of a lockup.
Therefore, if there is a genuine system problem and the spinlock can't be
acquired, the end result (irrespective of this change being present) is
the same.  If there is a livelock caused by the debug code, this change
will allow the lock to be acquired, depending on the implementation of the
lower level arch specific spinlock code.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: tweak comment]
Signed-off-by: Vikram Mulukutla <markivx@codeaurora.org>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>